The present invention relates to a pattern formation apparatus for optically forming a pattern on an object according to a photolithography technique.
Recently, for the size-reduction and densification of electric equipment or the like, the so-called photolithography technique based on the minification (reduction) projection is widely used in manufacturing function elements. Further, for manufacturing such function elements according to the photolithography technique, there is used an original plate, i.e., a so-called reticle, that a pattern is drawn on an optically transparent substrate such as a a quartz glass by an optically opaque film such as a metallic film. For preventing damages, this reticle is placed in a reticle case generally having a window made of a glass to allow the exposure of the reticle. For example, in a manufacturing process of an LSI device or liquid crystal display panel, plural kinds of reticles are used in a plurality of pattern formation processes. Since the patterns are different from each other in pattern formation process and the states of the pattern-projected surfaces are different from each other, reduction projection exposures are effected under different exposure conditions. Accordingly, for each exposure, an exposure condition is required to be set in an exposure apparatus. For reducing the load due to this condition setting, an automatically condition setting method is disclosed in the Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 3-83321 in which a bar code mark corresponding to one condition is printed on the reticle, reticle case or the like so as to be read out through a computer. There is a problem which arises with such a method, however, in that, because the exposure condition including many items is required to be reset at every exchange of the reticle, a mistake easy occurs in the setting and the working time becomes long. In addition, even if the bar code is used as a mark, since the exposure conditions are stored in the computer, in the case of using one reticle in a plurality of exposure apparatus, it is required to repeatedly store the same exposure condition in the respective exposure apparatus. This similarly causes mistakes in setting the deterioration of the manufacturing efficiency.